Order Meetings and Undergarments
by madamsnape78
Summary: Tonks attends her first Order meeting and things do not go entirely as she expected. Oneshot.


_A/N: The events in this story are refered to in my other Lupin/Tonks story. It was my first attempt at this pairing and I received such kind reviews, I thought I'd give it another shot. Thanks for reading!_

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"Are you ready?" 

Nymphadora Tonks turned as she heard the deep voice of Kingsley Shaklebolt behind her and gave a wobbly smile.

"I guess. As ready as I'll ever be." She fidgeted for a moment with her clothes wishing she had worn something a little more professional. Kingsley noticed and smiled.

"I'm pretty sure they're not going to care how you look, Tonks. Come on. We better hurry or we'll be late."

Tonks followed Kingsley out of the Auror Headquarters and down to the main level of the Ministry.

"Are you sure they're going to want me? What if they throw me out or something?" she asked, feeling more self-conscious than she cared to admit. She couldn't fathom why a group dedicated to the downfall of You-Know-Who would want her as a member. She was young and inexperienced and, well, she knew that she wasn't what a wizard generally thought of when they heard the word "Auror". Perhaps Kingsley had forgotten to mention to them exactly how useless she was in important secret missions. Kingsley however just gave a deep chuckle.

"Trust me, Tonks. They'll want you."

They Apparated to a dark, dingy street where the rows of houses looked like they had seen far better days.

"Here," Kingsley said shoving a piece of paper under her eyes, "read this."

"The headquarters of the…" she began mumbling to herself but she was quickly cut off.

"To yourself, Tonks," Kinsley said sounding faintly exasperated.

"Oh. Of course." Tonks could feel the flush creeping up her neck to her face. How could she have been so stupid? She quickly finished reading the rest of the words and no sooner had she finished and an extra door suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Come on," Kinsley said pulling her along. He saw her hesitate again and he looked down at her with an unusually kind expression. "You really don't need to worry. There are people here that are far more… unusual than even you."

Tonks took a deep breath and nodded, following him up the steps. They walked into the entrance and she was immediately taken aback by how dull and drab the place looked. It was clear that it hadn't been on the receiving end of a good cleaning in quite some time. She had some vague childhood memories of this place, but she saw none of the grand splendor that she remembered.

"Kingsley!" she heard a voice whisper and she looked up to see a short, red-haired woman coming their way. "We wondered where you were. The meeting is already started. Oh! Hello dear. You must be Nymphadora."

The older woman smiled kindly at her and Tonks couldn't help but smile back.

"Please, call me Tonks. My mother has a cruel sense of humor."

"Alright Tonks," she said warmly. "I'm Molly. Molly Weasley. I think you were in the same year as my son Charlie weren't you?"

"Oh yeah," Tonks said thinking back to the friendly red-haired boy from her Hogwarts days. "Brilliant Quiddich player, he was."

Molly smiled, clearly the proud mother. "Well, you two had better be heading in there before they get too far into the meeting."

Tonks felt a little of her nervousness ease as she followed Kingsley into the kitchen. When she reached the dimly lit room it was obvious to her that they had indeed arrived late. The room was filled with the strangest group of people she had seen in some time and Albus Dumbledore was standing talking to them. He stopped as the door opened and turned to look at them.

"Ah, Kingsley. You've arrived. We were beginning to wonder. And you've brought Nymphadora as well. Good."

It seemed that the eyes of the entire room were on her and she willed herself not to blush.

"Let me do the introductions," Albus said with a smile. "Let me see, well you already know Professor Snape and Sirius--"

Tonks tried to smile at Snape but failed miserably at his hard stare. Sirius gave her a cheerful wave and she grinned at him.

"—and next to Sirius is Remus Lupin."

Albus had pointed at a thin and shabby looking man who smiled shyly at her.

"—and lets see, Elphais Doge, Sturgis Podmore, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones, Alastor Moody"

The faces were beginning to blur but Tonks could have picked Moody out without introduction. Although she had never met him before, he was rather easy to spot.

"—there is Emmeline Vance, I believe you've met her as well."

Tonks nodded and smiled at the stately witch who gave her a strained smile back.

"—and in the corner there is Mundungus Fletcher."

Tonks could just barely make out the shape of a short squat man behind a haze of smoke.

"Why don't you take a seat," Dumbledore said pointing to the one empty seat between Lupin and Elphias Doge.

Tonks walked over toward them, trying to navigate around the closely spaced chairs. She had nearly made it when she tripped on the leg of Sirius' chair which was jutted out at an odd angle. She covered her face with her arms preparing for the inevitable jolt of her body hitting the floor when a hand reached out and grabbed her. Had it been a split second sooner it would have steadied her and kept her on her feet. As it was, though, the momentum of her falling body was already too great and, as she reached out and pulled on the arm that was connected to the hand, she pulled them over with her, landing with a hard crash onto the floor. She heard a grunt of pain coming from the person who had landed on top of her.

"Oh Merlin," she mumbled her eyes shut tight hoping that if she didn't open them then this wouldn't have happened. But the heavy weight of a body on top of her didn't go away and so she opened them up to look into the equally embarrassed but friendly eyes of Remus Lupin.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, mortified. Behind her she heard a loud bark of a laugh.

"I see you're no more graceful than you were when you were little, Tonks," Sirius said with a grin as he reached down to pull Remus off of her. He then reached down and pulled her up as well. As he did he whispered, "Don't worry. I think he enjoyed it."

Tonks did not think it was possible for her face to grow pinker, but sure enough it did, turning what she was sure was the same color as her hair. She fixed a glare on her cousin and she took her seat, refusing to look at the man next to her.

"Well, if Miss Tonks is done drawing attention to herself," came Snape's snide voice from across the room, "perhaps I can continue with my report."

The meeting lasted much longer than Tonks would have preferred. By the time it was done all she wanted was to go home, curl up under her blankets and die. Remus had not said a word to her since being pulled off the floor and she was sure, if he had his choice, she would have been sent packing. As it was, it seemed he too was just biding the time until the meeting was over so he could escape her.

When Dumbledore finally dismissed everyone, she rose to her feet thinking to slip out the door as quickly as possible. She was out of luck, though, when Sirius' hand prevented her from sneaking away.

"You're not leaving now are you?" he said. He had a strange desperate look to him, as if he could not bear the idea of everyone leaving. She felt a flash of pity for him as she thought of all those years he spent in Azkaban left with nothing but the worst of his memories.

"Of course not," she said forcing a smile and he also smiled.

"Good! I think Remus is staying too. Why don't we go into the library while Molly gets dinner?"

"Oh… I don't want to intrude." In truth she didn't want to have to face Remus again after so completely humiliating herself. As he led her into the library, however, she realized that far more people were there than just Remus. She also saw Moody, Hestia, Emmeline and Kingsley standing around talking and drinking butterbeer.

"What's going on?" she asked Sirius suspiciously. Surely they did not all plan to stay. Sirius grinned at her.

"Well, we wanted to give you a proper welcome to the Order. I mean Snape's boring report on the complete lack of Death Eater activity isn't exactly incentive to join."

Tonks grinned as Kingsley handed her a butterbeer which she gladly took and began drinking.

"So, Mad-Eye," Sirius said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Should we get down to it?"

"Yes, we better hurry this along," Emmeline said glancing at her watch. "I have a meeting to get to."

"What are you talking about?" Tonks asked but she got no reply. It seemed no one was going to fill her in, but they all seemed to be participating in some great joke considering the silly grins on everyone's faces. Even Remus had an amused glint in his eyes.

"Alright," Moody said. "Would anyone like to make a guess first?"

"Ooh, I think red," Hestia said with a giggle.

"No, I think the unorthodox clothing is a front. My guess is white," Emmeline said.

"I suppose I should refrain since we work together, but I'll venture to say she doesn't have any," Kingsley said and several people snickered. Tonks began to get a bad feeling about this. She wished someone would tell her what was going on. Everyone turned to look at Sirius who raised his hands in protest.

"Hey! She's my cousin. I'm staying out of it this time. Besides, half of you still owe me for getting Hestia right."

"Alright," Moody grumbled. "What about you Lupin?"

Remus smiled; it was the first time Tonks had seen a genuine smile on his face and it was amazing how it transformed him. He suddenly looked much younger than she would have first thought.

"I have my opinion, but I'm going to keep it to myself this time," he said and everyone groaned.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Tonks asked yet again. This time Kingsley answered her.

"Well, it all began the night the first Order meeting was called. Afterward several of us were sitting around drinking Firewhiskey and Sirius mentioned that we needed a way to be able to trust each other completely. After discussions of Unbreakable Vows and Veritaserum and after quite a few more drinks, we all decided that the best way would be if we all knew what kind of …uh… undergarments each of us were wearing."

"After all, once you know that much about a person, you have a bond that can't even be matched by an Unbreakable," Sirius said with a grin.

"You have to be joking," Tonks said with a groan. "How much Firewhiskey had you all drank before you came up with that brilliant idea?"

"Quite a lot," Sirius said wincing. "As I recall we all paid for that night in more than just embarrassment."

"And how do you all know if someone is telling the truth?"

"Well," Kingsley said with a smile. "That's where Mad-Eye comes in. You know, that magical eye is very useful."

"So you mean to tell me that Mad-Eye is going to tell you what I'm…" she broke off as she remembered what she had put on that morning. Oh no…

"Silver sequined thong," Mad-Eye announced and Tonks closed her eyes, desperately thinking that maybe she should just Disapperate. To Argentina.

She could hear everyone around her laughing, but as she opened her eyes, she saw that their eyes were kind and with a knowing look.

"Don't worry," Hestia said putting her arm around her. "We've all been through it. I could have died of embarrassment when Sirius guessed mine right. I still don't know how he figured it out. He even had the brand right."

"Well, let's just say I have quite a bit of expertise on the subject," Sirius said proudly. "I could have guessed yours too, Cousin, but I took pity on you."

Tonks found herself laughing in spite of her embarrassment and took another drink of butterbeer. What a strange group of people she had landed herself in with. Everyone finished their drinks and the group began to break up. Sirius tried to persuade her to stay for dinner but she shook her head.

"I have an early meeting with Scrimgeour," she said as headed toward the library door. "If I don't get a full night's sleep I'll be worthless."

"Alright," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "It was good to see you again. Come by anytime you have a burning desire to spend time with an escaped convict."

On that strange note he turned to leave and Tonks saw that Remus was standing in the entrance.

"Do you mind if I walk you to the door?" he asked with a small, shy smile. "I'm curious to know more about a family member of Sirius' that he actually likes."

"Alright," Tonks said and his smile grew wider. Again she was struck by how young, even boyish, he looked when he smiled. They reached the front door and Tonks turned toward him, unsure of what to say.

"It was good to meet you, Nymphadora," he said, after an awkward pause.

"Oh please, call me Tonks. My mother enjoys the fact she cursed me with that abysmal name, but I don't share her opinion."

Remus gave her a curious look. "Really? I think it's a nice name. It suites you."

Tonks laughed out loud and his face flushed.

"I'm sorry," she said, sincerely. "No one has ever said that to me before. I can't imagine why you think that."

"Well," Remus said shifting his feet nervously. "Its unique… and pretty… and something you're not likely to forget."

"Oh," Tonks grinned and she could feel herself blush. "Well… I suppose you're not likely to forget someone that knocked you onto the floor, are you."

"No, I suppose not," Remus said laughing as he finished off his butterbeer. Tonks noticed how his eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled and thought that, despite his shabby appearance, he had a rather nice look to him.

"Well, I really better be getting home," she said, suddenly feeling nervous at the direction of her thoughts. "Thank you for not holding my clumsiness against me. I promise I'll try not to let it happen again."

"Trust me, Nymphadora," Remus said smiling down at her, his blue eyes warm as they looked into hers, "it was my pleasure."

Tonks was finally back in her home before she felt her temperature return to normal. She smiled to herself as she propped her feet up on her coffee table and took a bite of leftover take-out. Somehow she suspected this would be the last time she ate at home after an Order meeting for a long time.


End file.
